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Herriman council questions realism of Utah Housing plan’s 50,000-home goal
Summary
Councilmembers raised concerns about the Utah Housing Strategic Plan's 50,000-homes-by-2028 target, questioned several proposed metrics (including a time-to-permit measure) and directed staff to submit consolidated comments by the March 19 deadline while encouraging individual council comments.
Herriman City Council members reviewed the Utah Housing Strategic Plan draft and debated whether its 50,000-homes-by-2028 target and proposed metrics are practical or meaningful for local governments.
A councilmember raised the central concern: "when they came up with a 50,000 homes by 2028, we were sitting in 2023... our record number of housing starts in this state was just under 40,000," and asked whether that goal reflects realistic capacity in labor, materials and contractor availability. Council members urged clarity on what problem the plan intends to solve before endorsing targets.
Staff flagged a specific metric that asks cities to measure time from a completed development application to issuance of a building permit. A staff presenter said that measuring that interval may not reflect city performance because builders can delay permit pulls even after subdivisions are finalized: "if they finalize that subdivision, they can sit on it." Council members and staff expressed the need to clarify which metrics measure municipal processes versus builder choices.
Staff said they will submit a consolidated staff-level comment to the League by the March 19 deadline and encouraged councilmembers to submit individual comments where appropriate. No ordinance or formal city position was adopted at the work meeting; staff will return with a summary of the city's comments and suggested edits to the draft plan.
